Zhu Yuanzhang, the ancestor of the Ming Dynasty, was mixed in the rivers and lakes in his early years, nameless and hopeless, but he was finally able to sweep away all the haojie, drive the Mongols back to the desert, and lay the foundation for Daming for more than two hundred years. Although Zhu Yuanzhang was a very capable emperor, he, like most founding princes, liked to do one thing after the taiping of the world, that is, to kill heroes.
Since ancient times, kings and subjects have shared hardships and hardships, but they cannot share blessings.
And such a thing, in history, is not strange. As we all know, Fan Li in the Spring and Autumn Period was very wise, and after he helped the Yue King to destroy the State of Wu, he did not covet too much fame, but left the court in a dashing manner, and since then, he has disappeared into the rivers and lakes and become an example respected by countless posterity. And his comrades-in-arms were not so lucky.
He has too many illusions about Gou Jian, thinking that he and Gou Jian are also people who have suffered together, and he will not turn his face. However, it was this naïve idea that made him famous and, in the end, became a negative example for future generations. When the Han Dynasty was founded, Liu Bang was not at all soft on his old subordinates. Han Xin, Peng Yue and Yingbu were in the Chu-Han war, which one was not Haojie who stood tall in the sky?
The result? All of them were at peace in the world, and they could not die. However, the situation in the Song Dynasty was relatively better. Zhao Kuangyin used a banquet to relieve the generals of their military powers, although this matter still sounded a little ungrateful, but compared with other old predecessors, Zhao Kuangyin could be regarded as very benevolent. In short, in dealing with the matter of meritorious men, each dynasty has its own way of doing so.
However, in Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes, these methods are all the means of some primary school students.
As the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang, he killed the hero not only to let you die, but also to thank him for his grace when you let you die. Today, the one we are going to talk about died because he ate a bowl of goose meat that the emperor rewarded.
This person was Xu Da, the founding general of the Ming Dynasty, who was from Anhui and Zhu Yuanzhang, and, like Zhu Yuanzhang, was born at the bottom. In his early twenties, he chose to join Zhu Yuanzhang's army and followed Zhu Yuanzhang to fight various big and small battles.
However, he has an advantage as a person, that is, he is particularly low-key, never showing off his merits in front of others. Earlier, Zhu Yuanzhang was not the commander of the First Army, but a leader of the rebel army of Guo Zi. One day, a man named Sun Deya approached Zhu Yuanzhang and said that his troops lacked supplies and hoped to get Zhu Yuanzhang's help.
And Zhu Yuanzhang, seeing that everyone is out to mix, no one is easy, so he helped him with his hand. However, before this Sun Deya, he had some festivals with Guo Zixing, Zhu Yuanzhang's immediate superior, which made Guo Zixing very dissatisfied after hearing about this matter, and specially came from other places to scold Zhu Yuanzhang. At this time, Sun Deya could not sit still, and for the sake of safety, he hurried to bid farewell to Zhu Yuanzhang.
However, Zhu Yuanzhang saw that things had become the way they were, and he didn't have much to say, so he let him go, and personally sent him off. At that time, Zhu Yuanzhang and some of Sun Deya's troops left the city first, while Sun Deya and some follow-up people and Ma Shang were in the city to deal with some things. However, when Zhu Yuanzhang was halfway through, news came from behind the team that Guo Zixing had led someone to arrest Sun Deya.
It seemed that Guo Zixing wanted to destroy Sun Deya.
The part of the people who went first with Zhu Yuanzhang heard the news and instantly blew up the nest. They suspected that Zhu Yuanzhang was obstructing him, so they suppressed Zhu Yuanzhang as well, and said to the outside that if they did not release people, then they would cut Zhu Yuanzhang down as well. At this critical juncture, Xu Da, as a subordinate of Zhu Yuanzhang, stepped forward and decided to replace Zhu Yuanzhang as a hostage in Sun Deya's army.
However, later, after consultation, the two sides each released the other party's people, making the big things small and the small things small. However, in this incident, Xu Da's act of sacrificing himself to save the Savior made Zhu Yuanzhang remember it in his heart. However, all the famous generals in ancient and modern times have stricter restrictions on their subordinates, and Xu Da is the same. When attacking Pingjiang City, Zhang Shicheng's base camp, Xu Dayan ordered his subordinates not to rob the common people of their belongings, not to damage the houses of local residents, and not to leave the barracks for more than twenty miles, otherwise, they would be killed.
It was precisely because of this military order that Zhu Yuanzhang's team was able to win the hearts and minds of the people in Zhang Shicheng's old land. In the eyes of posterity, the team led by Xu Da was invincible and mighty, but in front of Zhu Yuanzhang, he himself had always been respectful and respectful, and never dared to do anything that exceeded the position of the courtier. One day, Zhu Yuanzhang invited Xu Da to dinner, during which he wanted to test whether Xu Da was really as loyal to him as he appeared. Therefore, he kept pouring wine on Xu Da, and when Xu Da was unconscious, he arranged for Xu Da to rest in his official residence.
Wait until the next morning, Xu Da woke up to find that he was actually sleeping in Lao Zhu's bed, and he felt that something was not good, so he rushed to apologize to Zhu Yuanzhang. At this time, Zhu Yuanzhang saw that he was so frightened, so he put his heart at ease with him.
However, this reassurance did not last forever.
With the passage of time, Zhu Yuanzhang deeply felt that his time was running out, and he worried that after a hundred years, his children and grandchildren would not be able to stop these old brothers who fought with him in the world. For the sake of his own future, he decided to get rid of those who had the ability one by one.
One year, Xu Da had a boil on his back, and Zhu Yuanzhang took this opportunity to transfer him to Nanjing to recuperate. After that, Zhu Yuanzhang took the time to visit Xu Da's home to see if his condition improved. When Zhu Yuanzhang arrived at Xu Da's house, he didn't have to pull some homely things and say some comforting words, there was no situation, until Zhu Yuanzhang saw a book of soldiers on Xu Da's bed, and his face changed dramatically.
It is reasonable to say that Xu Da, as a military general, is normal in favor of the military. In his later years, it is also a pleasant thing to turn over the soldier's book and recall his early years. However, Zhu Yuanzhang did not think so, he thought that Xu Da was unreliable, as long as he was alive, he would not sleep well at night. However, at this time, Xu Da's prestige in the DPRK and China was extremely high, and it was inevitable that he would be criticized for directly disposing of him.
Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang thought of a workaround, that is, to give Xu Da a bowl of goose meat. It is reasonable to say that the emperor's gift of good food to his courtiers was a good thing that no one could refute, but Xu Da's illness was the most taboo to eat goose meat, and once he ate it, his illness would worsen. When Xu Da saw the bowl of goose meat sent by others, he not only understood everything, but did not say anything more, and directly ate it according to Zhu Yuanzhang's will.
Sure enough, not long after eating, he fell ill and died.
People like Xu Da, who are low-key and introverted, cannot enjoy their old age well, which shows that Zhu Yuanzhang's heart is narrow-minded. A generation of famous generals did not die in the battle with Zhongyuan Haojie, did not die on the battlefield with the Mongols, but died on a bowl of goose meat, which can not help but make people sigh. After Xu Da's death, Zhu Yuanzhang personally went to the funeral to show his sorrow, listed him as the first meritorious hero of the founding of the country, posthumously named him the King of Zhongshan, and gave him the third prince.
According to historical records, Xu Da had 4 sons and 3 daughters, and 9 grandchildren. After Xu Da's death, the eldest son Xu Huizu succeeded to the title and was made the Duke of Wei. The youngest son, Xu Zengshou, sent a message to Ming Chengzu when Zhu Di raised an army to the south, died under the sword of Emperor Jianwen, and was later posthumously honored as the Duke of Dingguo by Ming Chengzu. One door and two dukes, there is only one Xu Da family in the Ming dynasty. Xu Da's three daughters were all married to Zhu Yuanzhang's sons, the eldest daughter was married to Zhu Di the Prince of Yan, the second daughter was married to Zhu Gui, the Acting King, and the third daughter was married to Zhu Yang, the Prince of An. After Zhu Di, the King of Yan, seized power and became emperor, Concubine Xu was made empress.
According to the "Xu Clan Genealogy" of Rudong County Tho Town, the current descendants of Xu Da have been passed down to 22 generations, in 1946, in the drastic changes of the times, the ancestral hall that had been dedicated to the ancestors of the Xu clan in Rudong County was demolished and converted into a primary school, and in recent years, it has ceased to exist, and now, only a dilapidated school building remains. However, until now, Xu Da's descendants have centered on the original site of the ancestral hall in Liubu Village, living in Tho Town and Diggang in Rudong County, and the number of people currently has 3,000 or 4,000 people.
Resources:
["Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang", "Ming History Chronicle Ben mo, Volume 1, Taizu Rising Soldiers", "Ming Shi · Lectionary 13